By David Allyn, from Make love not war
On Tuesday morning, July 30, 1968, American Catholics woke up to startling news. The Vatican had proclaimed all forms of birth control (except for the notoriously ineffective “rhythm” method: trying to avoid intercourse during ovulation) immoral and illicit. The pope had effectively declared war against modern science.
The news was startling because in recent years Rome had been moving in a more liberal direction. The Second Vatican Council of 1962 (“Vatican II”) had inaugurated a new era of ecumenism. Many therefore had assumed the papacy would come to accept birth control pills as an inevitable part of scientific progress. This assumption was supported by the fact that a panel of leading bishops appointed by the pope himself had recommended in 1966 that the Church adopt a tolerant view of contraception, especially in light of the worldwide population explosion. An earlier pope had even approved the use of birth control pills for certain medical conditions, such as menstrual cramps. Now, in a sudden about face, Pope Paul VI had issued an encyclical titled Humanae Vitae which, in no uncertain terms, instructed Catholics to forswear all forms of “artificial” contraception, including condoms, diaphragms, and the pill.
The pope could not have expected a positive reception in the United States. Studies showed that most married American Catholics (52 percent of Catholic wives) were already using modern forms of contraception. For their part, Protestant and Jewish leaders, concerned about the long-term implications of unwanted pregnancy, were firmly on record in support of birth control. Meanwhile, many American Catholic leaders had come to accept a notion, captioned “the new morality,” which held that the Golden Rule, not rigid codes of sexual conduct, should govern human behaviour. Accordingly, a large number had come to see birth control as morally neutral.
. . . John Rock, a practicing Catholic and one of the inventors of the birth control pill, believed papal objections to birth control were seriously misguided. In 1963 (five years before the encyclical), Rock had published The Time Has Come: A Catholic Doctor’s Proposal to End the Battle over Birth Control, calling on the Church to accept the pill as progress. The book set off a storm of controversy. One bishop denounced Rock as a “moral rapist, using his strength as a man of science to assault the faith of his fellow Catholics.: Others believed he imperilled the future of Catholicism. But Rock knew that many Catholic women were eager to use “artificial” methods of birth control with the blessing of the Church, and he developed complex arguments to prove that the pill itself was a morally acceptable method, stating, for example, that the pill did not function as a contraceptive but rather as an anovulent, which simply regulated the menstrual cycle. Her found supporters throughout the country. As one woman wrote: “You are wonderful! Please don’t ever get discouraged. You have saved mankind a lot of misery already and for every one who curses you, there must be thousands who are grateful to you. I just want to be counted among the the thousands even though I am forced to lead an absolutely sexless life (my pious husband prefers not to touch me, rather than go against the Church).” By expressing his belief that oral contraceptives were morally legal within the teachings of the Catholic Church, Rock appealed to many Catholics who wanted to practice birth control while remaining faithful to Church teachings. . . .
When the pope issues an order, Catholic clergy are expected to fall in line. . . . In a remarkable act of defiance, 87 American Catholic theologians issued a statement against the papal encyclical, declaring it was not morally binding. … (eventually) more than 600 Catholic clergy members had gone on record opposing Humanae Vitae. (Senior Catholic clergy) warned local priests they could face serious penalties if they did not retract. . .
The crisis over contraception eventually ended in stalemate. Some of the priests who had been punished for opposing the pope were resorted to full office; others were permanently stripped of their duties. Rome refused to back down; most American Catholics simply chose to ignore Church dogma.
From Make Love, Not War: the sexual revolution, an unfettered history David Allyn, Little, Brown and Company New York, 2000.